Marchand was previously assessed a five-minute major for clipping and a game misconduct Saturday in the second period of Boston’s loss to the Canucks.

Shanahan also stressed that Marchand had other options on the play and that this was Marchand’s third bout with discipline, as the winger was suspended two games last season and fined earlier this year.

Here’s the video of Shanahan explaining his ruling:

In response, Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli put out a terse statement expressing his club’s displeasure with the ruling:

“While we respect the process that the Department of Player Safety took to reach their decision regarding Brad’s hit on Sami Salo, we are very disappointed by their ruling.

“While we understand that the Department of Safety is an evolving entity, it is frustrating that there are clear comparable situations that have not been penalized or sanctioned in the past.

“It is equally disappointing that Brad sought the counsel of the Department this past Fall for an explanation and clarification regarding this type of scenario so as to adjust his game if necessary. He was advised that such an incident was not sanctionable if he was protecting his own safety. Given our feeling that Brad was indeed protecting himself and certainly did not clip the player as he contacted the player nowhere near the knee or quadricep, today’s ruling is not consistent with what the Department of Player Safety communicated to Brad.”

Now that the NHL has basically thrown the book at him, Marchand will be faced with changing his game at least a little bit despite comments to the contrary by him and others around the team. And considering the severity of this ban, it’ll be interesting to see how Shanahan handles future incidents involving the Bruins, regardless of the player who’s under scrutiny.

I believe Shanahan is trying to do the right thing. But as MCK said below, one of the big things that is wrong with these rulings is that they take into account injuries for certain reviewable plays on the suspensions. I also believe this is a big “no no”. Reason being is that every player on the ice is different in every way, mentally and more importantly, physically. This play could’ve resulted in a million different ways, depending on the player it happened to. Take for example, Marchand makes that hit on someone his size, or even smaller, if there is someone. The guy rolls over him like a regular hip check, play continues with maybe a penalty and it never even makes it to the league office. Then you put someone like Chara in Salo’s place, and the injury could be even worse. So would he have received 10 games because of that?? This is where the league and Shanahan need to keep their guidelines on a straight path and not a windy road.

I will also say, that I didn’t like the hit either, as I had said in a previous post after it happened. I did think it was suspension worthy, but not 5 games. As others have pointed out, if you are going to consider things like injury into the mix, factor in the rivalry, how chippy the game was right from the start, the whole Thorton incident, everything. This wasn’t just your regular season game against a bottom barrel team.

The fact of the matter is, Marchand was a targeted guy from the league before this, and now he’ll be scrutinized for everything he does after this even more. He’s a marked man, and the whole point I can see coming from Shanahan on this one for that steep a ruling is to try to make his point. Let’s see if that continues.

Oh, and lastly, how much of this ruling you think was actually influenced by the stream of idiotic crap Alain decided to flood the media with? Stop sticking your nose in places it don’t belong. The league will make it’s ruling without you.

Good points George. The mechanics has to stay light though. I think Shanahan will leave the office with praise from everybody. His regime is a step forward and will leave its print to last. The guy is relevant to say the least.

I agree with the suspension. I also think we cannot expect the same rulings this year on similar plays that happened in the past because the people making the decisions are different. The only thing I would ask from Shannahan is a video of why some players are not suspended (if he does do that then I retract my request obviously. I think both teams are lying and posturing to the media because they hate each other, which is great.

Of course it means precedence gets thrown out the window. Colin Campbell was doing a terrible job.

We’ve been over this a hundred times. I’m not trying to say that the Vancouver hits were legal and I refuse to be cornered into that position. If the league thinks that Marchand’s hit warranted 5 games, then it should be 5 games for people that do this hit. This strawman that is constantly being built needs to get stuffed somewhere. I’m not justifying other hits at all.

First of all, Marchand contributed a lot more than just in the playoffs. Currently he is on possibly the team’s top line and already cost the Bruins four points against the team they will most likely face in the finals again this year. If you remember correctly home ice advantage was a big deal in last year’s playoffs until game 7 of the finals.

It should not matter who is in charge of making these suspensions. The suspensions should be based upon the rules in place, the incident in question and precedence set by past suspensions for similar events. Just because Shanahan is now in charge does not mean precedence gets thrown out the window.

I could have seen two or three games being the very limit of what Marchand would get. Five is more than just a break to get your feet under you, the kid is young and has not shown any sign of slowing down, in fact the opposite. This is going to hurt the Bruins from the top line down for five games now and the distraction in the media on top of that. If it costs the bruins even two more points in the standings, which is one game, that is more than enough to lose home ice in the playoffs.

It’s more games than I expected but then I’ve said before, I can’t read Shanahan at all.

Most people are in agreement that they don’t like the hit and this is a pretty big step. There’s no point in bringing up past hits from last season because Shanahan was not in charge at the time. It was Gregory’s daddy, remember?

I think it’s safe to say that Brad Marchand is on the league’s naughty list.

On the bright side, I have something for you guys to consider. Marchand was one of THE major contributors to your playoff run. You’re going to need this guy to have something left in the tank this spring.

When you consider the grueling playoffs, the short summer, the insane partying that Marchand has been through, this guy might have been in line to burn out come playoff time. With this 5 game ban, this guy is going to be quite fresh for the second half of the season. It’s not like Boston is fighting for a playoff spot anyway.

Busy day yesterday for Shanahan. The 5 games baffles me. He also handed out a 3 game suspension for an elbow to the head by Ducks’ Jacques. Musta been less than Marchand because he doesn’t have any history with the league. Oh wait, he was suspended for NINE GAMES EARLIER THIS SEASON. Ridiculousness.

The Marchand hit was worthy of a suspension. I believe had it been Marchand’s first offense it would have been a one game suspension. Taken into account this is Brad’s third strike in two years and second strike this season, it was obvious he was going to get more than one game. However, five is a little excessive to say the least. That means Brad’s hit was worse than Rome’s hit last postseason which got Rome (who has a history as well) only four games. Brad does have a right to defend himself, however he went a little too low on that play. I am a big fan of Brad’s and hip checks but everyone can see he hit Salo with a hip check that was too low. Five games however is at least 2 games too many.

Also, I have one major issue with the decision making process. Shanahan does not take into account the game itself and what was happening on the ice all around this play. There was no review of the Thornton incident even though the league stated it got that wrong. The refs let that game get out of hand by making horrible calls from the get go. There is no reasonable explanation on this planet for how the Bruins were down 5-3 after that Thornton incident, total BS by the refs on that one. How does four on ice officials not see what happened?

As for Vigneault, the coach is an a**hat. He should shut his mouth and concern himself with his own team. I have never hated an opposing coach as much as this guy. The bruins fans should cover the fine for Chara or Boychuk to rifle a slap shot right at Vigneault next regular season meeting. I have never heard a coach threaten a player for a minor incident like this one. Hope they have fun up in the fantasy land that is Vancouver, where they see themselves as the shining beacon of hockey purity and the rest of the world sees Vancouver for what they are: soccer foot fairies in skates and a disgrace to the sport of hockey.

MCK, I see this ruling as a well educated one. I read your post and all I can say is that your judgment is off balance.

A lot of wisdom would arise if you just took the view of the opposing team and think a little. Or better yet, be Salo for no more than 5 seconds and ask yourself: How could I be thinking that?

C’mon, you can be a fan without being stupid. 5 games is fair. The video is instructive and telling. Feelings and judgment don’t mix. Get a law book and read the Judges address to the jury, it will make you grow.

I expected a one game suspension. I agree that Marchand needs to clean up his game a bit, but given that the 5-minute major cost the Bruins a game, and that Vancouver is, well, Vancouver, five games is excessive.

Chiarelli is sticking up for his players. Brad’s done a lot to clean up his game. You gotta figure though that he should have gone shoulder to shoulder on that play. He chose the angle on Salo, he saw what was coming, and he could have gone in without going low. If he didn’t think he could absorb the hit, he shouldn’t have chose the angle he did.

I used to really get on Brad for his excessive chippiness. He plays with a lot more balance now, and he is a huge contributer to the team (Theo Fleury?). I look forward to his return, he’ll just have to take this one on the chin, oh well.

One thing I definitely agree with: this was no clip. Guess he’s more of a spirit of the law kind of guy, in which case he should have, as others noted, taken into account the context of the play and the garbage the Canucks had been pulling throughout that game.

I actually wouldn’t disagree with a two game suspension or so–or even this five, if the league had called Vancouver on some of its own shenanigans–but this seems pretty lopsided, especially after the Bs already lost a game as a result of Marchand’s ejection and 5 minute major.

This is absurd and disgusting, and one of the worst examples of pandering of all time. I guess it is not ok to drive your shoulder through the thigh of a player but it is perfectly fine to either bite an opponent’s finger or spear an opponent’s throat with your stick. So the NHL wants us to believe that this hit is worse than Rome’s on Horton in the SCF?

The NHL, and Shanahan for that matter, had a real opportunity here to impressively apply the letter of the law in the NHL and they failed. This decision is woefully biased and inconsistent. Further, it apparently took into account the severity (we will see about that) of Salo’s resulting injury, a big no-no in my book. Finally, Shananhan obviously did this to send a “message,” whatever that is. It is clear, however, from Julien and Chiarelli that there is no message to be sent, the Bruins will still play hard, fast and on the edge, and there isn’t squat the NHL can do about it. This will not deter anyone or anything. An epic fail by the NHL. Epic. This is a big strike to Shanahan in my opinion.

You know what it’s done, over, not going to be reversed and our coaches and gm said and did everything they could. I think it is way to many games but this is the Politically correct NHL now. Shannahan played on the margin his whole career so he knows the Bruins style (bet he wished he was on the team right now) and he knows the team fills empty arenas, and is carrying the NHL right now with a few others like the Rangers who play a simular style. Knowing this do the Bruins or any player on that team change there game no way!! The laugue can not afford to hammer on the defending Cup team who again is filling seats in empty buildings and dominating all TEAM

I find it intriguing that all we seem to hear is how aggressive and physical the “Big, Bad, Bruins” are – and all about the plays “after the whistle”. Interesting to note that Vancouver had more penalties and PIM during last year’s playoffs than Boston – and thus far in 2011-2012 they are leading in both categories. Hmmm… St. Vancouver? Someone tell CJ – the propaganda must be working.

Bojangles hit the nail on the head; Marchand’s hit was more aggressive than he has delivered in the past – suspension worthy? Perhaps. But when compared to similar hits such as Ballard on McGinn or Raymond on Marchand, it doesn’t warrant 5 games. I guess the NHL wants to split hairs on the “predatory” nature of these types of hits rather than acknowledge blatant possible attempts to injure such as those of Burrows’ spearing motion towards Thorton’s throat.

Cloudbuster – I agree completely. I’m floored that nothing came from that incident in front of the Canucks bench. Anyone ever heard of the third man in rule?!

Well, it has to start (stop) somewhere, and while we haven’t seen much discipline of this hit – we sure will now. With something as heavy as 5-games, I’ll be interested the next time it happens from Ballard.

So – does the league think it has finally ‘made up’ for all the whining about the Bruins now, or will we be dealing with a different rule set now based on a bias of reputation?

At least the league came forward and admitted the mistake made on Looch.

Was it a suspendable offense, considering Marchand’s history? Probably, sure. But the fact that the league did not display a shred of consistency on the matter (and apparently misinformed Marchand and the Bruins during the off-season) is what bugs me. It doesn’t help that Miss Alain Vigneault got off without a fine for having no control over his bench during that 1st period scrum. (Different incident, I know, but context is always important in hockey.) If you aren’t going to properly penalize those players involved in jumping Shawn Thornton after their teammate swats his stick up around Thorty’s face, should you not at least have an honest word or two with their coach/front office? Or perhaps throw a fine at them?

Marchand could have put his shoulder into Salo and delivered a good, clean hit in my opinion. His low hit did not look defensive and Salo was slowing down. Brad, we need you! I love the edge you play with, but you have to control yourself.